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Apology by a Yankees Star Becomes a Rite of Spring

Alex Rodriguez occupies a corner locker in the Yankees’ clubhouse during spring training. There is a door next to his locker that is off limits to reporters and usually allows him to sneak in and out without being bothered. That escape hatch will not save Rodriguez in Tampa, Fla., this spring or maybe ever.

Rodriguez, who devours attention when he can dictate the terms, will not be able to suppress the criticism that will almost certainly hound him. After Sports Illustrated reported on its Web site on Saturday that he used steroids as a shortstop with the Texas Rangers in 2003, Rodriguez, the most talented player in baseball, became just another player accused of cheating.

The Yankees, who preach about pride in the pinstripes, are well versed in having players linked to performance-enhancing drugs. When Rodriguez arrives at his locker next week, he will be the third Yankee in the last four years to have to answer questions about performance-enhancers. As great as the scrutiny of Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte was, it will be gargantuan with Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has long been enamored with how he is viewed and how his words shape his public image. As a player, Rodriguez has used his instincts to build a superb career. As an interviewee, Rodriguez has not always relied on instincts. His on-the-record comments often seem scripted; he has seemingly uttered what he thought he should say instead of what he actually felt.

Will he be as careful as Giambi, who politely tiptoed around mentioning steroids in a quasi apology before the 2005 season? How significant will anything that Rodriguez offers be?

Photo

FEB. 18, 2008 Andy Pettitte, center, apologized for using human growth hormone, two months after he was named in the Mitchell report.Credit
Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

While the Yankees remained publicly quiet about Rodriguez for a second straight day, team officials have spoken internally about the importance of having him address the matter expeditiously. The longer Rodriguez goes without saying anything, the longer the story will fester.

Even though Rodriguez is looming as a nine-year distraction, the Yankees want to try to use the equivalent of a plastic toy shovel to begin digging out from the avalanche.

If the Yankees could script Rodriguez’s response, they would prefer he held a news conference before pitchers and catchers first work out Saturday.

The Yankees are already bracing for a season in which they will have to validate adding almost $500 million in free agents and in which the second-year manager Joe Girardi will be closely analyzed. Even in the spectacle that is Yankeeland, the latest development with Rodriguez is outlandish.

Rodriguez has worked to try to become the perfect player, although he has been far from that in the postseason. Perfect swing, perfect work habits, perfect knowledge of the game, perfect everything. But perfect players are not expected to pursue unfair advantages. Perfect players are not supposed to use steroids.

As forgiving as the fans have been toward Pettitte and Giambi, Rodriguez is in a different stratosphere because he is baseball’s highest-paid player, and is generally seen as the heir to Barry Bonds’s home run throne.

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FEB. 10, 2005 In his first public statement about his reported grand jury testimony in which he said he used illegal steroids, Jason Giambi, third from left, said he was sorry. He never fully said what he was apologizing for.Credit
Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

He is also someone who has clumsily let bull’s-eye after bull’s-eye become attached to his back. This time, the bull’s-eye is a tattoo and it is steroid-related.

Pettitte said he was a “nervous wreck and scared to death” before he spoke in Tampa last February about using human growth hormone. But with his teammates Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada standing near him in a show of support, Pettitte repeatedly apologized.

He was almost instantly forgiven and rarely heard verbal abuse on the road.

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Four years ago, Giambi had a news conference at Yankee Stadium in which he said “I’m sorry” for what he did. Giambi never mentioned steroids or explained specifically why he was apologizing, but he came close enough. In comparison with players like Bonds and Mark McGwire, who have been suspected of using steroids, Giambi’s display made him the least villainous of the possible villains.

Because of Rodriguez’s reputation for choreographed comments, anything he says about steroids will be dissected. Pettitte and Giambi are not as polished as Rodriguez, but when they discussed their mistakes, they sounded believable. Sometimes Rodriguez is so consumed with making sure that he sounds believable that he is anything but believable.

By the time Rodriguez first stands at his corner locker this spring, he will have presumably addressed questions about performance-enhancing drugs.

Like Giambi and Pettitte, Rodriguez undoubtedly hopes that the stench of the subject dissipates. But it will surely linger. There is no easy exit for Rodriguez anymore.

A version of this news analysis appears in print on , on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: Apology by Star Becomes Rite of Spring for Yankees. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe